We recently connected with Kemi Huntley and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kemi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
In the early days, I worked at a group agency and started out as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor; helping individuals with disabilities find employment. My boss at that time extended an offer to me; to pursue licensure as a counselor and she would foot the bill for me to start that process and accumulate hours which was and is 3,000 clinical and Indirect hours to pursue provisional licensure; so long story short I did that and became licensed and saw my first client and fell in love and it felt so right; like a divine encounter pretty much; I knew counseling was what I was supppsed to be doing. I worked at this group agency for about another 6 months and started to feel real uncomfortable where I was, not because of the working conditions but because I felt like I was made to do much more and build more and that started the inquiry and curiosity of going out on my own . Honestly, once the ball started rolling on that It just kept rolling, I registered my business name as a sole proprietor starting out, looked and found an office space, and the rest was history so to speak. For me, I felt like the initial steps to starting my practice came too easily and was thinking it should be more difficult ….but honestly the hard part is maintaining the practice! I did have to reach out to some business owners and ask questions concerning how they started, I purchased a book on how to start a practice in 30 days, which was written by my former Clinical Supervisor, which was helpful as well. I did A LOT of research before and during starting my practice, had a bunch of lessons learned and fails and misses too! Challenges were because I didn’t hire a biller, I was the counselor and also the bill collector…not fun when a client doesn’t take care of their invoice in a timely fashion, which has led me to now collect fees on the front end instead of the back end. Also, when it comes to taxes, I still find that to be challenging even though I do a pretty good job at keeping up with my business transactions. Also. Another challenge since I’m a one woman show; I don’t have the community aspect in an office setting and even more so now since i decided to be completely virtual ! If I could do things differently, I would have registered as a single owner LLC Instead of a sole prop, I would certainly taken some more in-depth training when it comes to billing insurances, but I also prefer self pay over insurance! I would also have really focused more on a developmental plan to have been a group agency within 5 years so I can hire clinicians to work for me, now that plan is not off the table but I would definitely want a mentor when it comes to that when I’m preparing for that next transition’. To any young professional or professional period that wants to start their own practice in the mental health field, do your research and develop a niche within your first year; it makes for a more profitable business and exposure when you are essentially a master in your craft so to speak. Also, make sure you keep track of all of your business expenses!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a first generation American, my roots from Nigeria, boy mom, wife, Psychotherapist, and huge self care advocate. I worked at a group agency and started out as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor; helping individuals with disabilities find employment. My boss at that time extended an offer to me; to pursue licensure as a counselor and she would foot the bill for me to start that process and accumulate hours which was and is 3,000 clinical and Indirect hours to pursue provisional licensure; so long story short I did that and became licensed and saw my first client and fell in love and it felt so right; like a divine encounter pretty much; I knew counseling was what I was supppsed to be doing. I worked at this group agency for about another 6 months and started to feel real uncomfortable where I was, not because of the working conditions but because I felt like I was made to do much more and build more and that started the inquiry and curiosity of going out on my own . Honestly, once the ball started rolling on that It just kept rolling, I registered my business name as a sole proprietor starting out, looked and found an office space, and the rest was history so to speak. My 3 strong clinical areas of expertise are helping clients dealing with Anxiety, Depression, and low grade trauma. I primarily work with black women, which I love walking alongside them on their healing journey, it’s so cool to witness and experience their Ah-ha moments! I also, have another business/brand centered around self care, which I had introduced to the world in 2017 before self care became popular; I curated and sold self care tees and hosted self care events in my local area and pushed the message and agenda of what self care means and feels like! I am the therapist the will essentially help you feel empowered to the point where you could be your own “therapist” in other words you’ll be your best advocate and be equipped with tools you will benefit from to help you grow and cope in healthy ways.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
What is most helpful is simply having and embodying EMPATHY, that’s it! It’s one thing to be an effective communicator and even actively listening to others, but without Empathy, your servitude is just not effective at all.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Well starting out I got on websites like Psychology today, to help me reach potential clients and that was helpful for me starting out and as time went by I didn’t feel like it was necessary; because I started just getting clients via word of mouth. So the most effective strategy for me is to just be a good and dope therapist and my clients will tell others about me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.huntleycounseling.life
- Instagram: @Huntleycounselingcenter